


My Life for Yours

by MacyGracie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Fluff and Angst, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injured Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mind Control, Sacrifice, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 14:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16410200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacyGracie/pseuds/MacyGracie
Summary: After defeating Haggar's brand new, stronger than ever robeast, the team decides to hunt Haggar down before she can send another one. However, things don't go quite according to plan, and after Haggar possesses one of their own, things get 10x harder.Inspired by the Kuron situation, but with a little twist.





	My Life for Yours

"Shouldn't we be going into this with some sort of plan?” Lance said to his teammates in the green lion.  
“We are.” Pidge replied. “We're sneaking in, finding Haggar, and incapacitating her.”  
“So, we're trying to kill her,” Lance summarized , “but you think just sneaking in would work. When has that ever worked?”  
“When has anything we've ever done gone to plan, Lance?” Hunk groaned as he clutched the back of Pidges chair.  
“Those experimental garlic knots you made last movement worked!” Lance argued. “So did that plan I had to repaint the lions. And the trip to Varadero Beach!”  
He continued to ramble about topics completely unrelated to the situation that they were in, soon to be cut off by Keith’s question, “Anything related to the war we’re currently in the middle of?”  
“No...” Lance grumbled in defeat.  
“Stop bickering, we're almost there,” Allura ordered. “We need to prevent notice for as long as possible, meaning no arguing on the ship. The sooner we're found out, the less likely our mission will succeed.”

“Maybe we should have let ourselves be chased out by nice, normal, Galra soldiers!” Lance yelled as they flew along the hallways. He'd never run so fast in his life, terror fueling his every move.  
“Don't… Talk… Just run…”Hunk wheezed out of breath as they skidded around the corner. Where they should have seen the hole they discreetly came in through, there was just an immaculate, empty spot on the floor. No holy, life-saving exit appeared to be in this particular room.  
“Does anyone know where we went wrong?” Pidge asked cluelessly, “Even after all this time, these corridors still look all the same to me!”  
“Nope.”  
“No…”  
“I'm afraid not.”  
“Uuugh…”  
Lance looked in the direction where the last groan came from, and saw Keith leaning against a wall, cradling his head in his hands.  
“Are you okay buddy?” He asked, concerned for his friend.  
“Yeah,” Keith said, but he was stumbling over his words. “Just… a weird headache…” He shivered, then with his head still lowered, he closed the door into the small-ish room.  
“Why did you do that?” Pidge said exasperatedly. “You're the only one that can open it! If you have a concussion we really need to get out! You-”  
“Stop talking,” Keith interrupted, but his voice felt off, his voice was wrong. It was as if someone had crudely put another's voice above his on a computer, merging them into a twisted sound that struck fear into Lance's heart.  
As he looked up, Lance could see his eyes and his worst fear was confirmed. Keith's pupils had turned to a bright, luminescent, Galra pink; a phenomenon he had seen only once before. Once in Kuron, right after he was possessed by Haggar.  
He readied himself by summoning his bayard, in it's blaster configuration, then heard the rest of the team summon theirs; Keith too, summoned his bayard, and the sword had never looked so sharp and menacing. If Keith kept his combat skills, they would be dead within a few minutes.  
“We need to pin him down,” Lance said. The rest of the team nodded, then prepared for a fight, but they managed to do so too easily. Keith/Haggar chuckled, then suddenly Keith went limp, and his eyes were his own again.  
“Where did she go?” He hollered, and his voice had never sounded so good and right.  
“She's right here,” Hunk said reassuringly, but his voice had alternated just like Keith's’; his pupils were now that horrible, shocking pink. Lance was beginning to despise the colour, and he doubted he'd ever look at it the same way again.  
The rest of the team backed away until their backs were up against the opposite wall, eager to get away. They then held their bayards at the ready.  
“What do you want?” Keith shouted seeking for an answer.  
“Oh it's quite simple,” Hunk said in a bland tone, “I want you dead. And if no one else has managed to do it over more than a decaphoeb of constant attempts, I need to be creative. And what better way to kill paladins than with another paladin?” The scene was starting to become unnerving, and the team had their guards up but were still yet to attack.  
Hunk lunged at them, but when they finally incapacitated him, Lance felt something cold creeping up his back. It felt like ice, freezing up his spine so he couldn't move an inch even if he wanted to. Once it reached his head, it immediately started aching as if it was one of those headaches from days with too long spent in front of a screen.  
“I cannot be beaten that easily,” Lance heard himself saying, but it wasn't him. It was Haggar speaking through him. The team repeated their actions, and even though he knew and understood why they did so it still hurt with each step the team made when backing away from him.  
“Then how can you be beaten?” Pidge yelped exasperated as she dodged a swipe from Lance.  
“You're a smart girl,” he replied, “I'm sure that you can figure it out. After all, you have all the pieces you need.”  
“We stopped Haggar's influence on Kuron by putting Shiro's soul in his body,” Keith yelled.  
“But none of us are clones!” Allura argued, leaning over her shoulder so she could see him. “And we don't exactly have spare souls lying around for the taking!”  
Lance knew what the solution was. Surprisingly, he actually recalled Lotor telling the team about Narti's fate. She was being used as Haggar's eyes… well, not eyes exactly, because she didn't have any, though it was confirmed that Haggar had been using her to spy on Lotor. Lotor was forced to kill her in order to remove Haggar's influence.  
The only reason Lance remembered was so that he could tell the story to his family when they had their next bonfire night.  
Then suddenly, he was pulled out of his out of his train of thought by the shock of his arm being hit by the flat side of Keith’s sword.  
When Haggar forced him to summon his bayard, his fear for the safety of his teammates told him he had to do something. He fought her control, but the most that he managed to do was twitch his hand. However, that was all he needed. Still under the possession of Haggar; he lifted his blaster ready to aim at Pidge, and the small movement he managed to make made the shot miss her by a mile.  
He aimed again, and once again his aversion towards hurting his teammates made his shot stray from Allura. It then jumped above Hunk, and to the side of Keith.  
“Stop fighting!” Haggar roared through his mouth.  
“He’s still in there!” Pidge hollered. If Lance had been in control of his own body, he would have let out a sigh of relief. Now, all they needed to do was to figure out the way to fix this situation, and there was only one solution, the problem was that they didn’t know what it was.  
Before they did though, Allura brushed up against his arm and he felt Haggar's influence leave his brain.  
“Guys, the only way to force Haggar out of someone's mind is by killing them!” Lance - trying to warn them - yelled to the rest of the team.  
“Are you suggesting that we kill Allura?” Pidge asked defensively.  
“Of course not!” Lance roared as he ducked a lunge from Allura. “I'm just listing our options! And right now our only option is that or swapping out Haggar's control.”  
“Are you saying that we need to choose which one of us we sacrifice?” Keith yelled, horrified by what Lance suggested, “How could you even think that?”  
“I'm not!” Lance argued. “It doesn't have to be one of us, it could be any old Galra soldier, so long as it isn't us.”  
“Lance, watch out!” Pidge warned him, but it was too late - Hunk had already fired his cannon at him only to miss him by a hair’s breadth. The only reason he wasn't cookie dough was because Hunk had gained control for long enough to sabotage the shot, the Galra pupils flickering like old lights. While Lance was arguing, he hadn't even noticed Haggar's switch.  
“I choose who I control,” Hunk told them. “And I will only choose you, or those who you care for. You'll never be able to get rid of me, for as long as you refuse to hurt them.”  
“Killing still isn't the option.” Keith said, determined for a different outcome.  
Every movement, every switch merged into one another. It seemed like they had been fighting like this forever, and yet for no time at all. And all the while, Lance was trying to find a solution to the mess they were in.  
Haggar only possessed him twice more before giving up on him. His weapon, and Hunk's too made it too easy for them to prevent Haggar from doing any damage. At least, his did as far as she knew.  
Lance had come up with an idea. He had to consider it for a few minutes, it was too risky to rush into without knowing if it would work. He would have weighed it up for longer, but when Haggar finally managed to get a hit on Pidge and knock her out with Hunk's Bayard, he knew had had to do it.  
He heard a quiet gasp of shock from Keith when his blaster elongated to form his sword. It made sense, as only Allura and himself knew about the blade, but it still made Lance wonder why he hadn't shown him before. He felt that he probably should've, for it would've given them a great excuse to talk after all their time apart.  
Haggar - this time through Allura - saw it too, and saw the potential that his bayard's new form had. She lunged herself at him, only to have Lance halfheartedly dodge the attack, letting Allura brush up against him. He felt the telltale headache creeping up on him, and glimpsed Allura's pupils reversing back to their normal pale purple, confirming that he was now the one with the weight of Haggar's influence.  
“Stopped fighting have you?” He asked in spite. “Do you finally realise that you're inevitably going to fail?”  
Keith paused for a moment, his face dropping the menacing glare. “Lance, what are you doing?” Lance hated the betrayal he could hear in his cracking voice.  
‘Don't worry, Keith,’ Lance thought, unable to speak a word, ‘I just need to lull her into a false sense of security.’  
Haggar didn't grace Keith with an answer, she just attacked. Lance hated every moment. He wanted to fight back so much, but he couldn't put Haggar on her guard. He had to watch as he flung Keith into a wall, incapacitating him as Lance himself kept fighting. He moved his attack toward Hunk, kicking him in the stomach, and silently promised that it was going to be okay and that it would all be worth it.  
After Allura sunk to the floor with bruises all over, Haggar made him approach Keith, who was now cornered with no help coming. The rest of the team were so weak that they could do nothing but watch. Lance was grateful that the young Pidge was unconscious and didn’t have to see what he was about to do.  
“Lance, please!” Keith begged as he raised his hands. Haggar didn't hesitate to attack him through Lance. Haggar made him hold his sword high, intending to use it to smash in Keith’s skull but then suddenly, out of the blue, Lance took control. He angled the sword towards himself and thrust it as deep as he could into his own stomach. 

“Lance, please!” Keith begged as he raised his hands. Haggar didn't hesitate to attack him through Lance. Haggar made him hold his sword high, intending to use it to smash in Keith’s skull but then suddenly, out of the blue, Lance took control. He angled the sword towards himself and thrust it as deep as he could into his own stomach.  
But it didn’t work.  
Haggar managed to wrench back control early enough to make the sword dodge away from his torso, making a jagged tear in his right side. It didn’t kill him, at least not instantly, but it still managed to produce the largest wound that Lance had ever received. He didn’t feel it as any more than a dull ache because of Haggar in his head, but blood was everywhere; on his armor; his sword; on the floor, and it didn’t look like the cut was going to stop bleeding anytime soon. He knew that as soon as Haggar left he’d immediately feel the full effect of the pain, but she was still holding on and she still wasn’t planning on letting go.  
The horrified looks from his teammates made it worse. Allura was shocked, her eyes widened with terror, staring at him as she stumbled away from the red pool crawling slowly towards her; Hunk had tears pricking the edge of his eyes, his cannon which he had lifted to attack Lance limp in his arms; Keith’s eyes were wide, his pupils contracted to narrow dots, and he was trembling all over.  
“So you’d rather take your own life than take that of your friends,” Haggar chuckled. “What a…” She was interrupted by the distant yet unmistakable roar of one of the lions, and it was barely a second before Lance felt Haggar leave. As soon as she did, he fell to the ground, overcome by the agony from his self-inflicted wound.  
It was as if that everything that he had just experienced hit him all at once. He felt the gash in his side first, like it had been filled with fire, then the dizziness from blood loss. Every movement made it seem as if it was being remade, being cut open repeatedly, over and over and over.. He was barely aware of all the screaming he was doing.  
“Lance… LANCE!” He heard someone calling out to him, but faintly. “Stay-” then the voice was cut off by the thumping, agonising pain in his head as he blacked out.

“Lance, please!” Keith begged as he looked into Lance's eyes, Galra pink not flickering like it had the other times when he'd been possessed like this. What changed? Why wasn't he fighting?  
The sword raised above his head was a death sentence. Throughout his many battles, he'd seen more than a few people die like this. The servants of the Galra empire never exhibited mercy, least of all Zarkon's personal witch. He held his hands up, bracing for the blow, but it never came. When he moved his arms out of his line of sight, nothing could prepare him for what he was about to see.  
The blood he saw was not his own. It was coming from a huge gash in Lance's side, spilling out quickly, way too quickly. He looked at his other teammates, trying to figure out who saved him. Hunk's Bayard was dormant, so it couldn't be him. Allura's was the same. He considered the possibility of Pidge pulling a Lance and waking up just in time to save him, but then Keith saw the telltale red dripping down Lance's own sword.  
“So you'd rather take your own life than that of your friends,” Lance chuckled with that horrible possessed voice, confirming Keith’s fears. “What a-”  
A faint but furious roar from once of the lions interrupted her, and then the pink pupils disappeared from Lance's eyes. Another growl followed soon after, and Keith could identify them as the sounds made by the Red and Blue lions. Keith felt a sharp jolt of relief, but it only remained for a second before being replaced by worry for Lance.  
Lance had immediately fallen to the floor, probably overwhelmed by the pain from his injury. He started wailing, and tears were welling from his tightly closed eyes. Everyone put away their bayards and rushed to Lance’s side, but Keith got there first. He propped Lance’s shivering body against his own, and cradled his head against his chest.  
The small spasms started to slow, striking panic in Keith’s brain. “Lance! LANCE! STAY AWAKE!” he yelled, but to no avail. Lance was a deadweight in his arms.  
“He’s alive,” Allura confirmed after checking his vitals. “He should live if we can get him to the Atlas in time, but we must hurry! The lions must be attacking Haggar, but they won’t be able to distract her for long.”  
“Allura, call the Blue lion and tell her to get to the Green lion,” Keith ordered. “You and Hunk need to get Lance and Pidge to the Atlas. I’ll go and get red.”  
“Keith, I know that you’re angry,” Hunk said slowly. “But you can’t seriously be thinking of going after Haggar alone.”  
“Hunk’s right. We barely survived an attack with all five of us. You’re only one person, and you’re already tired and banged up from the fight we just had.”  
“Lance is Red's paladin now,” Keith reminded them. “I can’t just call her over. I need to be close if I have a chance of convincing her to fly back to the Atlas with us.”  
Hunk sighed. “Keith, we both know what you're planning to do. You aren't exactly the best at lying. You can't just go in slashing hoping that you'll kill Haggar.”  
“I don’t care,” Keith snarled. “No one hurts you and gets away with it. Especially if someone like Lance is driven to… Is driven to do this.”  
“I know we can’t stop you,” Allura sighed. “But just… Be safe. We almost lost Lance, I don’t know what I’d do if we lost you too.” Tears started running down her face. “I don’t know how I’d be able to tell him.” She added softly.  
Keith nodded. “I'll see you soon.”

When Lance woke up, it looked like he was in the same Garrison hospital as the one he was in after their fall to earth after defeating the Altean powered robeast. But unlike last time, it wasn't his family standing vigil around him but his team.  
“Hey guys” Lance said softly.  
Everyone immediately looked towards him, but Pidge was the first one to move. She ran up to Lance and wrapped him in a tight hug. Lance winced in pain when the wound on his side was knocked, but hugged her back.  
“You scared me Lance!” She sobbed. “I didn't even see what happened but the others told me when I woke up and you were in a healing pod and it wasn't working and we didn't know if you'd survive and-”  
“Calm down Pidge,” Lance chuckled. “What's this about a healing pod? I thought they hadn't finished being tested yet?”  
“They haven't,” Allura confirmed. “We should probably tell you everything from the start… How much can you remember?”  
“I remember hearing some of the lions cutting off Haggar's villainous monologuing, but after that, nothing.”  
“It's probably for the better,” Allura sighed. “After Blue and Red attacked Haggar, she was forced to leave your body and you collapsed. You were obviously in a lot of pain.”  
“What happened after I blacked out?” Lance inquired.  
“Allura called the Blue Lion to our location so you could escape,” Keith recounted. “Then I went to get Red-”  
“Woah, woah, woah! Slow down!” Lance exclaimed. “Wasn't Red attacking Haggar?”  
“Yeah,” Keith replied. “And your point is?”  
“How are you still alive?”  
“Red helped to distract her while I attacked her. Kosmo turned up after a couple minutes and I was able to kill her.”  
“YOU KILLED HAGGAR?”  
“SHE POSSESSED US SHE DESERVED IT!”  
“YOU ATTACKED HAGGAR ALONE?”  
“I HAD RED AND KOSMO WITH ME!”  
“YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!”  
“HYPOCRITE!”  
Keith's last argument sent the entire room into silence, save for the sound of footsteps outside and the beeping of monitors.  
“Keith,” Lance said slowly. “I know that you're all upset about what I did, but if the lions hadn't come it would've been the best option.”  
“Upset?” Keith objected. “You would have died. We are so far past upset that it isn’t funny. If your stupid plan had worked… “ Keith’s voice faded out, unable to find the right words to continue.  
“It almost did!” Hunk cried. “Even after Haggar weakened your attack it took so long to get to the Atlas, and you were bleeding out, and it was really, really scary!”  
“We were forced to put you in one of the healing pods,” Allura elaborated. “Even with the risks of using an untested healing pod, we had to. You wouldn’t have survived otherwise.  
“I kept imagining you actually dying,” Pidge admitted. “Allura had to force me to go to bed, I was so scared of having more nightmares.”  
“We all had nightmares” Keith said. “Lance, a world without you would be terrible. I don't want to live in a world like that, and neither does anyone else.” Lance chuckled, more tears sliding down his face. He reached up and pulled Keith in for another hug.  
“I love you so much, you know that right?”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh, I hope you liked this! It's the first fic I've actually finished writing, so I hope I don't tag anything wrong or something like that. You can find me on Tumblr at TheSilverPaladin


End file.
